Did Tonypandy rioters deliberately spare the shop of a rugby legend?

One of the iconic moments in Welsh industrial history has thrown up a mystery that has endured for 100 years.

One of the iconic moments in Welsh industrial history has thrown up a mystery that has endured for 100 years. In the centenary year of the Tonypandy Riots, Claire Miller looks at the legend of one shop being spared by the protesting mob – because it was owned by a Welsh rugby hero

History of Wales

WITH the 100th anniversary of the Tonypandy Riots approaching, one mystery about the events remains unsolved.

On November 7 and 8, 1910, a rioting mob attacked the Llwynypia Powerhouse before venting their anger on shop windows and homes throughout the town.

Local folklore says that miners would not have touched the chemist shop belonging to Welsh rugby hero Willie Llewellyn, as he was a member of the legendary winning team that had beaten the 1905 touring All Blacks.

But as the question again becomes pertinent in the run-up to commemorations marking the event, historians and family members admit that they can find no evidence to prove the story is true.

David Maddox, the leading authority on the Tonypandy Riots, said: “I have a photograph showing Willie Llewellyn’s shop was boarded up and the gas lamp outside was damaged.

“But this could have been taken on the second day of rioting, which makes me think that maybe the property wasn’t damaged on the first night and, realising there was more rioting to come, Willie boarded up the shop himself to protect it before the second night of violence.

“On the other hand you have to consider the locality of the shop itself. If a mob of several thousand was marching through Dunraven Street then Willie’s shop was actually slightly tucked to the left. They would have to almost turn back on themselves to deliberately damage it.”

However, Mr Maddox said that in a contemporary newspaper report listing the shopkeepers who were awarded damages, Willie Llewellyn’s shop – now Devonalds Solicitors on the lower end of Dunraven Street – is not mentioned.

The miners had decided that at 5am on November 7 all striking miners should demonstrate at their respective pits. The strikes had begun after the miners were offered a rate of pay per ton of coal they felt would make it impossible to make a living.

The demonstrators managed to shut down all the mines apart from the Llwynypia Powerhouse. It was rumoured stokers had been brought in from Cardiff to keep it going. Surrounded by strikers, mining leader Will John appealed for calm but some started throwing stones and pulling up fencing.

The police responded with baton charges and the chief constable requested Army reinforcements from Tidworth barracks. Then Home Secretary Winston Churchill stopped the troops at Swindon, fearing a repeat of the 1887 Bloody Sunday, and instead sent 200 constables and 70 mounted members of the Metropolitan Police.

The next day the miners gathered at Tonypandy Athletic Ground and were read a message from Churchill which said the police were coming to maintain the peace and the soldiers would be held back.

They assembled again at Glamorgan Colliery, but violence broke out and for two hours strikers fought with police. Some miners were chased away to Llwynypia but others flooded into Tonypandy, where the windows of shops and houses were shattered.

Born in 1879 at the former Bridgend Inn, Tonypandy, Willie Llewellyn began his rugby career in Ystrad Rhondda.

In 1900 he moved to London to study at the Pharmaceutical College in Bloomsbury and joined a failing London Welsh team. He was made captain and turned the team in to a force to be reckoned with.

He captained Wales in 1905 and was a member of the Welsh team that famously beat the 1905 touring All Blacks, toured with the British Isles to Australia in 1904 and won three Triple Crown trophies.

On his return to Wales, Llewellyn joined Newport. When he retired from international rugby Llewellyn returned to second-class club rugby and the Rhondda when he joined Penygraig.

His grandson, retired Llantrisant GP Dr Michael Jones, remembers him as a quiet, modest and unassuming man who never spoke of his rugby career, let alone his time in Tonypandy during the Riots.

Dr Jones, 77, who lives in Pontyclun, said: “I know that my grandfather was admired and well-known in Tonypandy during his years in the chemist.

“When he died in Pontyclun in 1973, he was 95 years of age and was the last of the 1905 Welsh team which beat the original All Blacks and is still remembered as one of the most triumphant wing players in Welsh rugby history. But he would never talk about it – it simply wasn’t his way.

“It was really only in later years that as a family we realised how successful a player he had been. He had a small room upstairs in the house where all of his trophies and memorabilia were kept, but they were never on show.”

As for the mystery of the Tonypandy Riots, Dr Jones remains at a loss. “We were always led to believe that the shop wasn’t damaged because of my grandfather’s celebrity,” he said. “It would be nice to think that’s true.

“But we could never prove it. He was a very quiet, unassuming and polite gentleman who simply didn’t discuss it.”

A series of events, organised by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, are taking place on Sunday November 7 from 3pm to 8pm to commemorate the centenary of the Tonypandy Riots in the town itself. For further details visit www.tonypandy2010.co.uk

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